The manufacture of flavoring compositions for food products has been an important industry for many years. Natural flavors derived from vegetables, fruits, spices, and other sources have been items of commerce which are combined with other foods in compositions in order to provide pleasing taste and texture for the consumer.
One highly desirable flavor is the flavor of fresh roasted peanuts. The peanut which is the seed or fruit of the peanut plant is an object comprising a mixture of peanut oils and peanut solids. The oils are substantially hydrophobic, fatty materials, which in combination with substantially proteinaceous peanut solids can provide a pleasing peanut flavor and texture to food systems. The substantially hydrophobic peanut oil and the hydrophilic peanut solids provides a substantial problem when peanuts, peanut fragment, peanut butter or other peanut derived products are added to an aqueous base system. Since the aqueous base systems can mix poorly with the hydrophobic (water hating) lipid and protein matter, an unstable system can be created in which the hydrophobic lipid and the hydrophilic protein tends to separate from the aqueous system. The separation of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic peanut components can result in unpleasant odors, flavors and texture. These problems can result from both the physical separation of components and from microbiological deterioration.
One attempt to solve the problems of combining peanuts in food systems involves separating the peanut oil from the proteinaceous peanut solids and combining the separate component in the food system . However the separation of peanut oil from peanut solids can substantially reduce the peanut flavor since the mixture of the oil and the solids is required to produce the satisfying peanut flavor. Accordingly, a substantial need exists to provide a peanut flavoring that is compatible with aqueous food systems which is gravitationally stable, which resists the creation of off odors, off flavors, and a clay-like texture or consistency.